sparking curious mind

A study by Winterberry Group examines how market and industry trends are driving systemic
change across the agency landscape, further transforming the agency/client dynamic.

Compiled in more than 70 interviews with senior-level executives, the study demonstrates that the traditional agency model is dying.

• - The complex demands of the multichannel selling environment require that agencies provide clients with a unified offering spanning both "“above-the-line"” and "“below-the-line"” marketing channels
- Compressed margin availability, expanded client scrutiny and the
emergence of alternative service providers are raising the competitive
pressure for agencies of all sizes
- Integrated service providers are seeking to command a greater
presence in the agency environment, but struggle to sell their strategic
and creative offerings to marketers who associate their brand with
other services
- Clients are increasingly leaning on internal strategy and creative
capabilities-—as well as procurement departments-—to support
marketing initiatives and generate leverage in negotiations with
external agencies
- The prevalent "“agency holding company"” model is poorly equipped to
provide the organizational agility and cross-channel service offering
that today'’s marketers demand.

The study sparked a lot of discussions around the blogosphere. The change is irreversible and those unable to switch will parish.

As Noelle Weaver says, the way forward is getting past the medium and get to know the consumer. Intimately.
Also, Blue Flavor'’s Director of Strategy, Brian Fling, in his post The Agency Model is Dead, says there are five reasons why the old model doesn't work anymore:

1. Segmentation (Too many choices, pervasive media weakened)
2. Big Ideas: They don'’t always reap big rewards
3. The Cost of Trial and Error
4. The Growth of In-House Resources
5. The Talent Pool

The study concludes that "Forward-thinking shops-—those that embrace media-agnostic planning and employ integrated "“across-the-line"” methods-—represent a model to which
many others are likely to convert in the years ahead. Merger and acquisition
activity may well drive this hybridization. Already prime acquisition targets, for
example, interactive agencies will continue to be incorporated into general and
direct agencies as they are likely too "“siloed"” to survive as standalone entities.

Despite the seismic shifts that have occurred on the agency landscape, the
results from this study confirm that agencies are adapting to the new rules of
engagement and even flourishing beneath them. It is impossible to state with
certainty how the terrain will change in the future, but these findings suggest
that agencies with accountable, innovative marketing programs will always be
in demand."

via experience planner

"Temporary means learning to care for things (and people) that are precious, and when it’s time, to freely let them go. As Gary Thorp says in his book Sweeping Changes: "the joy comes not from trying to keep things forever, but from keeping them well."

"Permanency breeds a state of fear. If you own something, there’s always the potential to lose it, while if you own next to nothing, you won’t worry about ending up with nothing."

From an excellent report on a new trend, cleverly named, temporariness.

You can download it here

Collaboration of W+K and Nexus Production with a GTA twist, and you get an unusually cool Coke ad.

via brand new

I've travelled 400 km to see Placebo in concert in Bucharest. I didn't like it. They are not very good playing live, and what was even worse, they delivered the playlist at a very fast pace, without any interaction/connection with the crowd.
I had high expectations and I left dissapointed. I will stick to the dvd and the cd's. This way I will avoid seeing Mr. Brain Molko's arrogance and platitude. Too much hype for too little.
They didn't played with the heart. It was professional and aseptic. Easily forgetful.

Pretty innovative form of marketing for the upcoming release of Snakes on a Plane that shows how just including a limited amount of user control can drastically affect a product.

The premise of the site Snakes on a Plane: Send a Message from Samuel L. Jackson is that you can enter a little bit of relative data and can then generate a call to anyone you want from Mr. Jackson asking them to see the movie on its Aug. 18 release date.

The site asks both your name and the name of the person you are sending the message to, the numbers of both, and the occupation, hobby, looks, and mode of transportation of the person receiving the message. When you complete the information, the site calls the person in question with a message from Samuel L. Jackson, addressing them by name and telling them to leave their job and hobby behind, pick up the person who made the call and take them to see Snakes on a Plane.

I'm curious if those who receive the call will go see the movie. Or it will just create a buzz, and only a percentage of them will go to the cinema.

I rely too much on technology. Maybe because technology seems more serious and professional than a pencil, so instead of writing or drawing, I, like many other creative professionals, turn to mechanical aids. I've used overhead projectors, stat machines, digital cameras, scanners or Photoshop to put my ideas on paper or screen. The more I come to rely on these tools, the less I trust my abilities to write/draw.
We are feeling incapable of producing images that approach the "perfection" of machines.

Like any physical skill, whether shooting baskets or driving a car, if we stop doing it, we get rusty. So on those rare occasions when we do pick up a pencil, the results are disappointing and we vow not to make that mistake again.

So what price are we paying for this? Why not just rely on stock-photo websites and Photoshop to present our ideas? My cell phone has a camera built into it, so why bother carrying a sketchpad?

That's simple.
Because our jobs, our happiness, our lives depend on it. Because our goal is not to produce slick compositions; it's to lead a creatively fertile life.

Client: Cancer Patients Aid Association
Agency: Euro RSCG, India






Client: History Files
Agengy: Graffiti BBDO, Bucharest

Hilarious account about the modern man. George Carlin is on top of his game!

The young people driving the markets nowadays got a name.

Colin Bates came up with C Generation, which stands for:

Content - creating and distributing their own content
Creativity - finding new ways to interpret brands
Community - sharing their ideas with friends

I think that is a good description of what this generation is about. More and more brands took notice and started to collaborate with their audience. Inviting customers to participate in the development of TV commercials, involving them in product development or promotions, allowing shoppers to customize the products, are some of the ways brands effectively build relationships with their customers.

So, brand owners should ask themselves:
Am I doing enough to collaborate with my marketplace to build my brand?

InBev Germany introduced two new brands in the segment of beer mix beverages.
Beck’s Level 7 is a beer and energy drink, a mix of guarana, coffee and beer.
Beck's Chilled Orange is mix of beer and Kumquat orange with fruit-fresh flavour.

Both products have an alcohol content of 2,5 per cent and are offered in transparent, white glass bottles. Both novelties are offered in the following bundles: Single bottle, Sixpack and 24er box of 0.33 litres (single bottles and/or four Sixpacks).

more info: www.becks-level7.de
www.becks-chilled-orange.de

After being awarded the prestigious BMW advertising account, fledgling creative hotshop Ireland/Davenport launched its first TV commercial for the brand.

Shot in the Netherlands using the moving sculptures of world-renowned artist Theo Jansen, the commercial, entitled "Kinetic Sculptures", forms part of a broader campaign which serves to highlight BMW's market leadership in the fields of technology and innovation.

Emphasising the strategic background behind the creative execution, newly appointed strategic director at Ireland/Davenport, Priniven Pillay, adds, "BMW is so passionate about innovation, from their design elements to their pioneering engineering concepts, and it was this passion that we wanted to capture through our TV commercial."

Truely unique & amazing way of bringing together art and engineering.

via guerrilla innovation

More and more companies are embarking the trend of mass customization. Following NikeID launched back in 1999, brands from different categories give their customers the opportunity to customize their products.

Celebrating its 130th anniversary, the H.J. Heinz Co. has created a special Web site where consumers can customize their ketchup bottle labels.

Another manufacturer that offers customization is Jones Soda, which lets you put a photo on their bottles.

One of the best-known, and probably first, example being M&M’s personalized candy, which come in 15 colors and are packaged in four 200-grams bags for $38 or 20 silver tins for $85.

I think this is a great way to get your customers involved to have a real brand experience.
Does anybody know any other examples of this kind?

At Nordiska Kompaniet's food hall customers can hook up their iPod to the iFood terminal and download audio recipes.
The process is described in five simple steps: 1) Plug in, 2) Download, 3) Purchase, 4) Listen, and 5) Cook. After choosing from a wide range of recipes and downloading audio instructions to their iPod or other mp3 player, shoppers can purchase all necessary items from a colour-coded deli area.

iFood is an exclusive cooperation between Nordiska Kompaniet/NK, an upmarket Stockholm warehouse with an equally upscale food hall, and Ridderheims, a manufacturer and distributor of fine meats and delicatessen products.

Very clever and simple example of customer engagement.

via springwise

"We’re all drowning in information today. The value is no longer in collecting or even condensing it, but in transforming it. Your edge will come, not from knowing something your competitors don’t, but in applying creative intelligence to all the available information in order to create generative, profitable ideas." - Open Intelligence Agency

"What happens when an interactive agency goes to work for SUBWAY? Late nights, fun times, and lots of sandwiches. When Agency.com has the chance to win the SUBWAY interactive business, they immediately go to work... in the restaurants, on the streets, and, of course, on the internet. Check out their viral video, send it to your friends, and help them spread the good word of, um, mustard." - Agency.com

Agency.com makes a viral video about them for a pitch for Subway account. Then they post it on Youtube before going to Subway.

The move sparks all sorts of reactions around blogosphere. Coudal even made a very funny spoof.

Is this the right move to win new business?

via Adfreak

Assessing creative ideas effectively is a combination of art and science, subjectivity and objectivity. This requires: shared agendas and honesty, a deep knowledge of what communications does and a profound understanding of the brand itself, clients recognising and nurturing a great idea, the ability to handle difficult discussions about creativity, the need to appreciate the agency’s approach to presenting work, and making informed decisions based on agency advice and experience.

Ten-stage framework of shared criteria for closer, more effective relationships:

1. Be knowledgeable in advance – assess ideas in a broader context
2. Come to the meeting with a smile – be ready to be inspired
3. Back to the brief – use brief as a framework against which to evaluate the idea
4. Empathise – with the people bringing the ideas to you
5. Clarify – is it on brief? What exactly is the idea? How is the idea going to work?
6. Question yourself – be both subjective and objective
7. Question the idea – use open questions to encourage ideas to develop
8. Reflection – listen to the agency, go away, think, ask the ‘how’ questions
9. Refinement and the role of research – these are the ‘why’ questions
10. Relax – you’ve done everything you can to help the idea survive and flourish

To download the world’s first guide for Judging Creative Ideas click here

"The proposition behind both ads has been to communicate 'Colour like.no.other'. With both ‘Balls’ and ‘Paint’, our intention is to show the depth of colour that can be taken for granted if you have a BRAVIA high definition LCD TV. We know that consumers still value colour above all else when choosing a TV set so we’re continuing to promote Sony's credentials (Live Colour Creation technology etc) in all our communication about BRAVIA."
David Patton, Senior VP Marketing Communications, Sony Europe

From an interview at If!

Also, check out the Sony Bravia blog. They give access to "behind the scenes" footage of the next BRAVIA advertising campaign, "Paint". For the making of the advert they used 70,000 litres of paint - 358 single bottle bombs - 33 sextuple air cluster bombs - 22 Triple hung cluster bombs - 268 mortars - 33 Triple Mortars - 22 Double mortars - 358 meters of weld - 330 meters of steel pipe - 57 km of copper wire.

Quite impressive!

Montreal culture jammers Rob Maguire and Ezra Winton, the cofounders of the anticorporate activist collective berculture began sharing their recipe for berbr , an all-natural hemp ale, with Canadian microbrewers as a way of spreading a message and funding their work.

Two microbreweries in Montreal and Vancouver are making the "uncorporate" beer, and about a dozen bars and cafés are selling it. The profits are split with berculture, which produces political documentaries and film festivals, and campaigns against corporate giants like Wal-Mart. Like open-source software code, the ale's recipe is free for anyone to use and modify, so long as users in turn share any changes.
To support local enterprise and cut down on pollution from shipping, Maguire and Winton want berbr to be made locally, from mostly local ingredients, wherever it is sold.



Überbr isn't the world's only open-source beer, nor is it the first. That title is claimed by Vores Øl (Our Beer), a meaty brew with a caffeine boost from South American guarana beans. The beer was created last year by a group of students at Copenhagen's IT University in a workshop on copyright and intellectual property taught by artist Rasmus Nielsen. The project applies the logic behind open-source software, which flouts Microsoft's corporate hegemony by tapping the creativity of the masses to design ever-evolving programs like the Linux operating system.

"If I am to succed in leading a person towards a particular goal, I must first find out where he is now and start from there. If I cannot do this I am deluding myself when I believe that I can help others. In order to help somenone it is true that I must understand what he understands. If I cannot do that, it is of little use that I can do more and know more.
If , however, I want to show how much I can do, that is because I am vain and proud, because I really want to be admired by other people instead of helping them. All true helpfulness starts with humility towards the person I want to help, and for this I need to understand that helping is not wanting to dominate, it is wanting to serve."
Soren Kierkegaard

This is what a planner should be about. To serve the consumer, we first must understand who he is, how he lives and so on.